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10 Decommissioned Airports That Will Inspire You to Explore
Christopher Smail November 21, 2014
We’re used to seeing airports as excessively busy hubs of human activity, as blurred arenas where people from all walks of life pass you by in an instant. But what happens when airports close their doors and are left to rot? In some cases, they can be reborn as something completely different and magical. Here are 10 decommissioned airports from around the world, all of which are bound to intrigue your inner explorer.
Don't blame the Spanish Government for the Ciudad Real Central Airport mess. It was a private airport, not public, but with a very bad business plan. The private investors who pushed the airport project assumed the regional government would ensure its profitability by subsidising airlines to fly there, Ryanair French regions style. Obviously this was not the way you run a private business, looking for public handouts. Besides that, Madrid is less than an hour away, why flying to a tiny town instead?
I went to Kampong Chhnang in 2006. Its so sad to imagine all the slave labor that built the place. I did a bit of a photo essay on Kampong Chhnang. http://www.pixelmap.com/sl_cambodia.html#kampong
I would suggest that RAF/USAAF Greenham Common is a great example. Today it is public parkland with taxiways, the runway and hangar/missile storage areas still mostly intact. The ATC tower is a listed building and is currently being turned into a visitor centre and coffee shop. Of course the airport is also famous due to the peace protests their in the 70's and 80's. In the early 80's over 30,000 women formed a ring around the perimeter fence, all 6 miles of it, in protest at US cruise missiles being kept at base. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Greenham_Common
You DID manage to forget the Jewel of the Crown: Athens Ellinikon airport! That is very sad. Any world traveler would tell you it should have been #1 on that list.... http://flightclub.jalopnik.com/athens-abandoned-international-airport-is-greek-history-1605936877